Page 49 - Studio International - January 1967

it was that Stephenson renounced when he committed fluenced by Bonnard, but his drawings show that his
himself to abstraction. His draughtsmanship is academic, temperament is really quite different from that of the
but very powerful—one is not surprised to learn that he Frenchman. The striking thing about these small works
studied at the Slade under Tonks. Alas, it's just this is their firmly-structured quality—we don't miss colour,
quality of academicism which seems to be carried over because the colour is all there in the gradation and the
into the new and 'daring' work which he undertook textures of the black-and-white. The best of these draw-
around 1935. And this, indeed, leads one to ask: 'daring— ings strike me as something very remarkable—there is
in what terms?' Stephenson was experimental—but only nothing unfinished, nothing tentative about them, only a
for an Englishman. Nearly everything he was attempting supreme confidence in the medium.
had been accomplished by Kandinsky years before. Finally, a brief word about another graphic medium:
Respect seems a poor tribute to pay to such a devoted the print. The MARLBOROUGH NEW LONDON GALLERY have
life's work, but it's the best I can give. recently been showing a fine range of prints by various
At the WADDINGTON GALLERY there's a show by a painter of their artists—particularly striking is the portrait of the
who at first seems almost entirely retrograde : drawings American poet Robert Creeley by R. B. Kitaj. There was
by the American, Richard Diebenkorn. Diebenkorn is the also an interesting series by Colin Lanceley on the theme
best known of the so-called 'West Coast figurative of 'The Miraculous Mandarin'. At the BROOK STREET
painters'. He is the representative of an American tradi- GALLERY was a good selection of graphic work by Picasso
tion which has been somewhat obscured for us, here in —prints and a few drawings, including one of Apollinaire
Europe, by the achievements of the New York school. in a Papal tiara (another find for those with literary
Certain American artists seem to have a grasp on reality inclinations). Finally, EDITIONS ALECTO have just an-
which escapes from academic formulae—Diebenkorn is nounced the opening of a branch in New York—an
one, and Wyeth is another. Diebenkorn is much in- altogether encouraging sign of health and prosperity. q

Bernard Leach photographed
at St Ives by Andrew Lanyon

Far right
Bernard Leach
Covered porcelain
incense pot 1965
4 in. high

Bernard Leach (now celebrating his eightieth birthday) and Shoji Hamada are
today appreciated as the most outstanding artist-potters of our age. This
appreciation was given official acknowledgment in the international exhibition
of modern pottery, held at the Chateau de Ratilly in 1962 and subsequently
at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs—where the central hall was given over to
works by Hamada and Leach.
It is one of the great merits of Bernard Leach to have devoted his life to
bridging the abyss between East and West, emphasizing an approach and an
ethos which are essential for mankind's unification in the cultural field.
One aspect of his work which has often been overlooked is the wide range of
his creativity. He started his career as an etcher, and is a fine draughtsman; he
Bernard Leach is a poet; he has written a number of books on pottery and one on Yanagi's
Covered stoneware pot, Temoku glaze 1966 Buddhist aesthetics of crafts; and he is an educationalist.
12 in. high J. P. Hodin